Why Babayevskaya Factory has an Azerbaijani name

Pavel Martynov. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

Many researches of “the ethnic issue” discuss an ethnic structure of revolutionists who planned to commit an overthrow in 1917 and speak about domination of ethnic minorities. It is obvious that they had more reasons for fighting against the tsarist power which infringed their interests and tried to assimilate periphery of the Russian Empire. There were many representatives of the Caucasus among ideologists of the revolution – Georgians, Armenians, and Azerbaijanis. Streets, squares, factories, and plants were named later after them in Russian cities and towns. One of such factories is the well-known concern Babayevski in Moscow, which chocolate is famous in Russia and abroad.

The confectionery plant of Abrikosov got the name of Pyotr Babayev in 1922 after 18 months since his death…

…In the late 19th century the Nukhinsky province of Azerbaijan, as well as other towns of the Russian Empire, was shaken by workers’ strikes. In 1878 one of organizing activists of a strike, Khakim Babayev, was sent away from the center of developments to a small Russian town of Kosimovo in the Ryazan Region. Khakim was alone in a new place and spoke Russian poorly, so he managed to find a job of a factory laborer. However, his personal life was rather advantageous. He met a girl whose name was Lyuba. She didn’t afraid to marry a foreigner and gave birth to eight children. According to traditions of that time, all eight new citizens of the Russian Empire got Russian names.

The elder son Pyutr was born in 1883 when revolution ideas began to spread among laborers of the Ryazan Region. Khakim decided to did his best for giving his son good education. However, Pyotr studied in Kasimov gymnasium for four years only and went to the mechanical plant as a student when he was 13. He accepted revolution ideas in a different way there. Since 18 Pyotr tried to start absolutely independent life. He traveled the Volga Region and the North Caucasus searching for work. Then, he became a greaser on a steam ship. He marked himself as a talented young man who had a desire to study, and soon he became an assistant engineer.

Some time later Babayev was recruited to the army – the Baltic Fleet. Soon the phrase “the Baltic Fleet sailor” will be a synonym for “a revolutionist.” In 1905 Pyotr joined social-democrats and connected with sailors of Petersburg and Kronshtadt. But the young fighter for justice was arrested and he got tuberculosis in prison.

Considering his health conditions, Babayev was let free, but immediately sent to the Russian-Japan war. The defeat in that war confirmed the idea of the young revolutionist that the current regime exhausted in Russia.

In 1912 Babayev married Natasha Kuznetsova who loved him for a long time and they moved to Moscow where his political career was on the rise. Working as a locksmith, Pyotr continued to urge workers to support revolution. Only the First World War saved the agitator from prison. Babayev was sent to the German front where he got the St. George Cross for bravery and courage.

In early 1916 Babayev as a high-quality professional was sent to the St.-Petersburg military factory. At that period his disease became worse because Babayev had no time to treat it. The revolution was incoming.

Workers respected Pyotr and in summer 1917 he was elected the chairman of the factory committee, and later a member of the Petrograd Council of Worker and Soldier Deputies. When the German army managed to break through the Western Front and organize a wide-scale counterattack, Babayev rushed to the front as a member of the military organization under the Petrograd Council.

He returned to Moscow as an experienced revolutionist. Babayev is elected to be a deputy of the Sokolniki Council. Soon he leaves the capital and went to Tambov where he headed the Tambov City Committee of the party.

He came back to Moscow and continued fighting for workers’ rights. They said Babayev helped common people with enthusiasm. He was a friend of many laborers in Moscow, but the closest ties he had with workers of Abrikosov’s factory. As the chairman of the Sokolniki Council, Babayev made many decisions and managed to do a million of useful things.

Pyotr didn’t want anyone knew about his tuberculosis, but the diseases couldn’t be kept in secret. He was sent to hospital, but soon he escaped it. In April 1920 Babayev died. He was 37. “”He died at work, as a true Bolshevik,” newspapers reported.